Lawmakers pushing for quarantine insurance

Ask any walnut, grape or tomato grower in San Joaquin County who's been put under a government-imposed quarantine in recent years.

Farmers face few obstacles more frustrating than having crops ready for market, only to be told they can't be shipped because one pest or another has taken up residence in their fields.

More than $1.1 million was lost during the 2011 harvest due to the Oriental fruit fly quarantine zone, a 118-square-mile designation established to eradicate the pest.

Mission accomplished. But what of the cost to farmers?

Last summer, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, introduced legislation that would offer insurance to growers who wanted to protect themselves from crop losses due to federal quarantines. The bill never reached the floor of the House of Representatives.

"A new Congress," McNerney spokeswoman Lauren Smith said when asked about the second attempt. "The old bill never proceeded, but this is vital to our ag community. Jerry reintroduced it in hopes that it makes it this time around."

The new bill has three California Democrats as co-sponsors.

It would make it possible for farmers to buy insurance against the risk of losing their crops.

"Far too often, farmers and ranchers are placed under federal quarantines, destroying a full year of hard work and investment," McNerney said in a written statement. "We need to give our farmers the resources to protect their livelihoods and cover staggering losses due to government-mandated quarantines."

The bill would amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act and direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help provide insurance to farmers.

McNerney also said farmers already face uncertainty from weather, natural disasters and unstable prices - all of which they can purchase insurance against.

Quarantines, he said, leave them with no protection options.

Scott Hudson, the county's agricultural commissioner, said the thinking for the legislation originated following the September 2011 Oriental fruit fly infestation and quarantine. Vegetable growers lost a substantial amount of money.

"There was no treatment, no option. Those crops were lost," Hudson said.

"We talked with McNerney about it. We found that insurance companies don't cover quarantine losses. Quite frankly, he came up for the idea of a bill. We all agreed there needed to be a way to compensate growers."

In the past four years, more than 140 federal quarantine zones were established across the nation. In California, there were 25 quarantines, three in San Joaquin County.